You guys should look up the very comprehensive, exhaustive and detailed Pew Global Religious Landscape study

You can check out the page devoted to Buddhism on the study as well as the comprehensive and interactive chart that gives the religious population breakdown of every nation in both number and percentage terms...I used that chart and also to break down Buddhism according to three main schools: Theravada,Mahayana,Vajrayana

The top 17 Buddhist countries hold 475 Million of 488 Million Global Buddhists

---The trouble is that you think you have time------Worry is the Interest, paid in advance, on a debt you may never owe------It's not what happens to you in life that is important ~ it's what you do with it ---

He turns his mind away from those phenomena, and having done so, inclines his mind to the property of deathlessness: 'This is peace, this is exquisite — the resolution of all fabrications; the relinquishment of all acquisitions; the ending of craving; dispassion; cessation; Unbinding.' (Jhana Sutta - Thanissaro Bhikkhu translation)

Mkoll wrote: ... North America has almost three times as many Buddhists as all of Europe even though Europe has more than twice as many people.

The other interesting thing about the US figures is the breakdown ...

OP wrote:700,000 Western Buddhist converts in USA (should be mainly Theravada and Tibetan Vajrayana with perhaps a smattering of Mahayana Zen)

Huff Post wrote:There are at least two million Buddhists in the U.S., and each usually falls into one of two camps. On one side are Asian-American Buddhists, who have been in the U.S. since the mid-19th century and whose numbers blossomed after 1965, when immigration quotas were lifted. About two-thirds of U.S. Buddhists are Asian, while one in seven Asians in the U.S. is Buddhist. Most Asian-American Buddhists practice at home, and small numbers also observe their faith at Buddhist temples, the kind known for their ornate architecture and large Buddha statues. Studies have found that most Asian-American Buddhists seldom or never meditate. Their practice of the faith includes venerating ancestors, spiritually observing holidays such as Lunar New Year and doing yoga, and most believe in nirvana and reincarnation.

The second camp of Buddhism is made up largely of white converts, who count for about a third of U.S. Buddhists, but whose practice of the faith has arguably seen the most cultural popularity. This group, which mostly focuses on meditation, has its origins in Tibetan, Zen and Vipassana traditions that were popularized by a handful of white Americans who traveled to South and east Asia to learn from Buddhist masters as interest in alternative spirituality peaked during the countercultural movements of the 1960s.

Afterthought: the European figure would be mostly converts, since Europe has had little Asian immigration. That would make Europe's converts roughly the same percentage of the population as the US's converts.

pilgrim wrote:The statistics for Buddhists in China can vary over a wide range as many people have some loose affiliation to the religion. I've seen numbers of 20% to 50% of its 1.3 billion counted as Buddhists

yes to make a clearer picture I am quoting a few wikipedia resources...but you can be very sure that very expensive Pew study used all birth,death,temple,monastery,trust,government records available and came down to a good methodology...they have good explanation about their methodologyI just wanted to create this one place Demographics and Buddhist Demographics Map container

Cambodia 97% (Theravada – 93% practicing) Japan 96% (Mahayana – 36% practicing) Thailand 95% (Theravada – 93% practicing) Taiwan 93% (Mahayana – 35% practicing) Mongolia 93% (Vajrayana – 53% practicing) Myanmar 90% (Theravada – 80% practicing) Hong Kong 90% (Mahayana – 15% practicing) Bhutan 84% (Vajrayana – 75% practicing) Macau 80% (Mahayana – 17% practicing) Vietnam 75% (Mahayana – 10% practicing) Christmas Island 75% (Mahayana – 36% practicing) Sri Lanka 70% (Theravada – 69% practicing) Laos 67% (Theravada – 65% practicing) Singapore 51% (Mahayana – 33% practicing) China 50% (Mahayana – 20% practicing) South Korea 50% (Mahayana – 23% practicing) Malaysia 21% (Mahayana – 18% practicing) Brunei 17% (Mahayana – 9% practicing) Northern Mariana Islands 16% (Mahayana – 10% practicing) North Korea 14% (Mahayana – 2% practicing)Remarks: East Asian Buddhism is the mixture of Mahayana Buddhism, with Taoism and Confucianism. Because officially Communist governments that often forcibly suppressed religious expressions still rule a number of traditionally Buddhist countries, and because Buddhists often practice other traditional East Asian religions, the figures could be much higher in these regions. Mahayana Buddhism in Far East Asian countries has a very wide meaning. That is why in such countries as China, Vietnam, North and South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, the three religions of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism are often all considered at once. This is referred to as a "Triple religion", with Gautama Buddha in the center, Laozi in the left, and Confucius in the right.In some regions, such as Japan, belief systems vary with differing emphasis on Shintoism, as well as Ancestor Worship. Additionally, as Buddhism has harmonized with many Asian cultures, it is often regarded as a cultural background or philosophy rather than a formal religion. As such, the Buddhist population is difficult to gauge exactly, but is often nominal. The lesser percentage given is a number of Buddhists who have taken the formal step of going for refuge. And the wider percentage given are informal/nominal adherents of combined Buddhism with its related religions and those who subscribe to Buddhism and its philosophies in principle but stop short of any ceremonial or formal practice.[54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62] See Buddhism by country and Irreligion.

Among its prominent exponents is the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet. The number of its adherents is estimated to be between ten and twenty million.[5]

Now some good demographics Map : The First two are the Best---The third one is alright but shows no differntiation...the fourth one though extremely big and cumbersome is worth taking a look as it shows the whole world in terms of the dominant religion in each state or province of each country

Thanks for the maps, but I've got reservations about the "Atlas of Faiths". It is wrong as regards Australia and omits New Zealand completely. That's just the part of the planet I know best but it makes me doubt the rest.

Kim OHara wrote:Thanks for the maps, but I've got reservations about the "Atlas of Faiths". It is wrong as regards Australia and omits New Zealand completely. That's just the part of the planet I know best but it makes me doubt the rest.

Kim

you have to open it in new tab and will see NZ ...I have also uploaded in the smaller version..."Atlas of Faiths" say Australia is mainly protestant, with various other churches and animism being also present...while NZ is dominated by Christians from various churches

Kim OHara wrote:Thanks for the maps, but I've got reservations about the "Atlas of Faiths". It is wrong as regards Australia and omits New Zealand completely. That's just the part of the planet I know best but it makes me doubt the rest.

Kim

you have to open it in new tab and will see NZ ...I have also uploaded in the smaller version..."Atlas of Faiths" say Australia is mainly protestant, with various other churches and animism being also present...while NZ is dominated by Christians from various churches

would like to hear your opinion though

Okay ... thanks for returning NZ to the world. My criticism about Australia still stands. Errors: There is no significant difference in religion anywhere in the eastern half of the country except for the big cities, especially Sydney (shown in red) and Melbourne (shown in ochre). There is also a Christian majority around Darwin (centre-north), not an "indigenous religion" majority. And as I said, finding so many errors in the bit of the map I do know about casts doubt on all the rest.

Kim OHara wrote:And as I said, finding so many errors in the bit of the map I do know about casts doubt on all the rest.

The differences in methodology I think say a lot about the makers of the maps, as well. The "Atlas of faiths" map gives Japan a color by lumping together Shintoism and Buddhism seemingly arbitrarily, but marks China as "no dominant religion/non religious". Meanwhile, the "World Religions" map similarly lumps Shintoism and Buddhism together for Japan, but marks China as religious by lumping together Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism as the "Chinese Complex". Also, while the first map seems to view the Buddhist world in terms of the trichotomy of Theravada, Mahayana, or Vajrayana the world religions map views it in terms of the dichotomy of 'Hinayanistic' vs 'Lamaistic' except when lumped together as part of a complex, where the various flavors loose their identities. Finally in the "Atlas of faiths" map, all Buddhism is the same while various forms of Christianity and Islam are kept quite separate. It seems like the format and categories of these studies say as much about the makers of the maps as the maps say about the religious concentrations around the globe.

culaavuso wrote:The differences in methodology I think say a lot about the makers of the maps, as well. The "Atlas of faiths" map gives Japan a color by lumping together Shintoism and Buddhism seemingly arbitrarily, but marks China as "no dominant religion/non religious". Meanwhile, the "World Religions" map similarly lumps Shintoism and Buddhism together for Japan, but marks China as religious by lumping together Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism as the "Chinese Complex". Also, while the first map seems to view the Buddhist world in terms of the trichotomy of Theravada, Mahayana, or Vajrayana the world religions map views it in terms of the dichotomy of 'Hinayanistic' vs 'Lamaistic' except when lumped together as part of a complex, where the various flavors loose their identities. Finally in the "Atlas of faiths" map, all Buddhism is the same while various forms of Christianity and Islam are kept quite separate.

Well noted.

culaavuso wrote:... the format and categories of these studies say as much about the makers of the maps as the maps say about the religious concentrations around the globe.

And isn't that always the case? No matter how hard we try to be fair/objective/impartial, we have to devise a classification scheme before we divide people according to it and the scheme inevitably reflects our interests (which is fair enough so long as we are upfront about them), prejudices (not so good) and blind-spots (not good at all).